Sterling Smith

Post-pitch story

Sterling Smith pitched Sandbox Commerce as a no-code way for retailers to turn their online stores into mobile apps — and the company has had one of the more winding post-pitch roads of its season. It kept building after the show, picked up grant and prize funding as recently as 2021 to continue developing its app builder, and some databases even list it as acquired. But the clearest picture comes from Smith himself: the Sandbox technology lives on as a legacy project while his focus has moved to something new. In June 2024 he officially launched RightMatch AI, an AI-powered hiring platform, where he's now founder and CEO — and along the way he's become an active angel investor, backing other founders the way investors once backed him. Sandbox Commerce is the kind of company that defies the neat labels: not a clean exit, not a shutdown, but a founder who kept the lights on while building his next thing. Smith's trajectory — from pitching a no-code tool on the show to running an AI company and writing checks — is a good snapshot of how serial founders actually work.